The Oxygen We Breathe
by Melanie Hemry
On a balmy evening in 2012, Robert and Charlotte Kachinski sat on the front porch of their home in Suffolk, Va. It was their favorite time of day when the world around them slowed its spin. They listened to the distant sound of a dog barking. The aroma of someone charcoaling wafted in the air.
Robert had joined the Navy right out of high school. After three back-to-back combat missions, he had transferred to the Coast Guard.
“It would be nice to live in Florida again,” Charlotte said, “if only to be close to our families.”
Robert agreed and wondered aloud if he’d be able to find work there when he was ready to retire from the Coast Guard. Picking up his laptop, he searched a federal employee job site.
Two jobs popped up.
“Wait a second,” Robert said, “I know this organization. I did a four-year tour there. This opening is for the job I did! While I was there, we created a position for a federal civilian employee to do what I did. This is that job!”
Pulling out his phone, Robert called the man currently in that position.
“Are you leaving?”
“Yeah, I am.”
Robert threw his name in the hat.
A couple of months later, scrolling through emails, Robert found one asking if he was still interested in the job. Three days later, he was selected for the position.
“There wasn’t even a question when we saw that you’d applied,” he was told. “We knew you were the right person for the job.”
There was just one problem. To take the position, Robert would have to retire from the Coast Guard. Retirement hadn’t been on his radar. Besides, the retirement process took six to nine months. They needed to fill the position soon.
BVOV : 15
